According to the Congressional Budget Office, the GOP’s plan to redefine what it means to be a full-time employee under Obamacare could jeopardize coverage for hundreds of thousands of employees and increase the deficit.
H.R. 30 would reduce the number of employers that are assessed penalties and lower the penalties assessed against some employers, which would decrease the amount of penalties collected. Because of the changes in who would pay penalties and the amounts they would pay, CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimate that enacting H.R. 30 would also change the sources of health insurance coverage for some people, and those changes would have further budgetary effects.
The CBO estimates that as many as 1 million people could lose their employer-based coverage while, on the other hand, as many as 1 million people would obtain coverage through Medicaid or CHIP as a result of the loss. The number of uninsured persons could also increase by as much as 500,000.
But we know the GOP doesn’t really care how many people are covered. What about the deficit?
According to the CBO, the federal budget deficit would increase by over $18 billion between 2015 and 2020, and increase by over $53 billion between 2020 and 2025.
Senate Majority Bullshit Artist Mitch McConnell has already said that he will bring the bill up for a vote even though it would increase the deficit because they don’t really care about the deficit, at least not now that they’re in charge.
It will all be for naught because the White House has already stated that the president will veto the bill.